Marriage Most Convenient
by mythical rose
Summary: Heero is trying to save the ranch he loves. Duo may be the only hope they have to save. But will solution make things better or worse?
1. Chapter 1

Marriage Most Convenient

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. I wish I could because they are all too cute for words. This story is based off the wonderful novella by J L Langley called His Convenient Husband. Every time I have read this story all I could picture is the G-Boys, so this is my take on this story.

Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 6x5

Warnings: AU, swearing, lemon

By: bekkalynn

Chapter 1

Heero welcomed the warm sunshine that was shining down on his back. Outside he could hear the birds singing and the occasional bawl of a baby calf. He knew that he needed to wake up but all he wanted was to snuggle up with his pillow and sleep a little longer. Wait a minute, where was his pillow, and why did his bed seem so hard. Slowly he opened his eyes and realized why his bed felt so hard. He had fallen asleep on the office desk again.

Now that his brain knew this the rest of his body started to take notice with pain shooting up his spine and settling in the base of his skull. Groaning, he slowly sat up taking care not to jar his head too much. Unfortunately it did not work and soon his head was pounding with a full blown headache. To make matters worse his stomach started burning warning him that antacids would be taken along with his pain pills.

Looking at the laptop on the desk he saw that he had a new email in his inbox. Sighing, he put on his hated glasses, opened the message and started reading. Soon he was cussing up a storm at the words in front of him.

_Heero, _

_I am expecting you to send me the ranch accounts as soon as possible. Repeated attempts at getting these accounts have not been met. If you do not turn over those accounts I will have no other choice but to consult with my lawyer. As my father's oldest child it is my right to see that his interest have been well taken care of. You are not related to him and at this time only "acting manager". I expect these accounts sent to me as soon as possible._

_Anne_

"Over my dead body." Heero muttered as he moved the email into a folder along with all the others that Anne had sent. Ever since she had found out that her father, Howard Merquise, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer she had been trying to get a hold of the ranch accounts. It did not make a difference that she had not been back to the farm since she had left twenty years ago, she felt as though any request was her given due.

Looking at the other window that was open on his laptop, he felt his shoulders tighten even more at all of the red numbers in front of him. He needed to find the money to pay off the taxes that was due, along with the feed bill and the many doctor's bills that kept coming in. He had tried to cut back on any expenses as he could but it just seemed that there was never enough money to cover everything. It did not help that the economy had taken a turn for the worse and that gas prices had soared making using the farm equipment the biggest expense that they had.

Just then the door to the office opened and a blond head peeked around. "Hey dad I found him! He's in the office! And it looks like he's slept in here again!"

"Traitor." Heero muttered. "And if you are going to yell like that you better have a cup of coffee with you."

Quatre Winner, Howard's grandson, looked totally unrepentant as he leaned back out the office door and once again used his considerable lung power. "Make sure you bring some coffee, he's being cranky again!"

"Asshole." said Heero.

"You called?" asked Quatre as he sat down in the chair in front of the desk.

Groaning, Heero pulled open the desk drawer looking for some pain pills and antacids. He thought he had put some of both in there but after moving things aside still could not find any. He really wished that coffee would show up soon. Maybe that would help with the headache part, his stomach however, put up a huge protest. Pressing his hand into his stomach he willed it to stop aching.

"I was just upstairs with granddad." Quatre said quietly. "He really doesn't look good. The doctor was here this morning and said that it could be anytime."

Heero closed his eyes to try and hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. Howard had always treated Heero like a member of the family and it hurt him to see the once larger than life man lying in his bed wasting away. "I will try to go see him later today." Heero said just as quietly.

"He would like that." There was a slight pause before Quatre said, "He has been asking for Duo and Anne again."

The sound of the first name brought another wave of pain through his stomach. Heero would have thought that after five years the sound of the name Duo would not hurt so much but yep, there it was, the sound of his heart breaking again. Taking a deep breath he opened his eyes when he was sure the tears would not fall.

"Have you called your brother yet?" he asked.

"Yeah, I got a hold of his secretary Wufei but he is still out of town and that the message would be passed along when he returned. I hope that he gets it soon. He would hate that he was too late to say goodbye to granddad."

"I am sure that he will get here in time." came a voice from the door. Zechs Merquise walked in holding a cup of coffee in his hand. Striding over he put the cup down in front of Heero. "Here grumpy. I was told that you needed this."

Heero resisted the urge to stick his tongue out in a decidedly childish manner, knowing full well that Zechs would grab the cup from him just to mess with him. He grabbed the cup and brought the cup to his mouth, taking a second to enjoy the aroma that rose from the cup. Taking a huge gulp from the cup he waited for the caffeine to start working its magic.

"You do remember that I promised to kick your ass if you fell asleep in here again, right?" asked Zechs.

"Yeah, I remember. But these bills are not going to pay themselves." Heero reminded him.

"How bad is it?" Zechs asked.

"Let's put it this way, can we handle the ranch if we let the last two workers go? I know that leaves just you two plus me and Uncle Treize but I don't know what else to do."

"It is that bad then. Well if that is what it takes, then I guess we will have to let them go. Can we give them any type of severance?" asked Zechs.

Heero felt his stomach clench even tighter as the pain in his head intensified. He wanted to tell them that they couldn't but he knew it would not be fair to the workers that had been with them for the last two years. He knew that he had some money left of the pitiful inheritance that his own grandparents had given him, if he used the money wisely he could pay the taxes, the feed bill and still give the workers some type of severance.

"Yeah, I will give them each a check with their wages and some severance. You might as well let them go today so that they can try to find work as soon as possible."

Zechs sighed as he rose from his chair. "I will let them know now. Come on Quatre we might as well get this day done with."

"Coming dad." Quatre stayed where he was and watched as his father left the office. Turning back to Heero he said, "You need to stop working yourself like this brat. You won't be any good to us if you end up getting sick you know?"

"Yeah, yeah. I hear you. And stop calling me brat. Just because you are a few years older than me doesn't make me a brat." scowled Heero.

"Yes it does. You were a brat when you came here and you will always be a brat." Quatre said as he too got up to leave the office. "But that is ok, we still love you anyway." He then left out the door laughing the whole time.

Heero shook his head, a smile working its way onto his face. Standing up he stretched his back and looking down at the corner of his desk he found a bottle of pain pills and a roll of antacids. Glancing back at the door, he knew who had left them there, he knew that if he wasn't careful the ass kicking that he would receive would be coming quickly. He popped a couple of pill and pulled a few antacids from the roll. Managing to keep from making a sour face he chewed the pills and washed it down with the last of his coffee.

He walked out of the french doors leading to the wraparound porch of the ranch house. Taking a deep breath he looked to the mountains that stood off in the distance. He loved this land, it was always so vibrant and alive. His first view of this land had been these very mountains when he had been a kid. He still remembered how he had felt as a scared kid of seven, losing both of his parents and being turned away by his grandparents. His uncle Treize had been the only person who stepped up to take in the scared orphan.

"What has you thinking so hard koinu?"*

Heero turned his head to see his uncle walking up the porch steps towards him. Treize Khushranada was not a typical looking cowboy. With platinum blond hair and ice blue eyes, his uncle could have been a model instead of foreman of a cattle ranch. Having been raised in a wealthy, high society family, Treize had walked away from an easy life to live the way that he wanted too. Heero had always wondered what had caused his uncle to walk away from that life but he never had the guts to ask. He had just been happy that someone had wanted to take him in.

"Are you ever going to stop calling me puppy, oji?"* Heero asked with a smile on his face.

"Old habits are hard to break. You used to follow around behind Duo and Quatre like a little puppy when I first brought you here. The name just seemed to stick. Now why won't you answer the question?"

His shoulders slumping a little, Heero turned back to the view of the mountains. "We will have to let the last two workers go today. There is just no money left to pay them any longer. I am trying so hard oji, but it seems like it is not enough."

Heero felt a hand land on his right shoulder. Turning he looked into his uncle's caring eyes. Once again he felt tears well up and he blinked to force them back. It would not do any good to break down in front of his uncle. Crying would not change any of the facts that they were facing.

"No one can fault you for all of the hard work that you have given this ranch koinu. You do the work of five men already. It is your determination that keeps this ranch going. I am sure that if you take the time you will find the answers to these problems are actually staring you in the face. Keep looking, I know you will find it."

"Do you know something that you aren't telling me oji?" Heero asked.

Treize turned his head to look out at Zechs and Quatre riding out on their horses towards the range. "Just keep looking Heero, and know that I will stand behind any decision that you make." Then Treize turned and walked down the steps.

Heero stood there for a second and watched his uncle walk away. 'What did he mean by that?' Heero thought. 'What does he know?'

"Oji!" yelled Heero but Treize just kept on walking, waving to him over his shoulder.

Heero turned back, going back into the office and his laptop. Maybe there were some secret accounts that he did not know about. With renewed determination he sat down, resolving to not leave until he found the answers that he was looking for.

Duo Maxwell pulled into the underground garage of his apartment building happy to be home. He had just returned from a successful business trip to California this morning and had been busy at work ever since. He knew that he had at least another two hours of work ahead of him but he would rather do it from home than in his office under the watchful eye of his assistant Chang Wufei. Nick named "the dragon" by both himself and his partner Trowa Barton, Wufei was known to scorch people with both his glare and his tone of voice. Wufei had been known to use both on his bosses when he felt they were working themselves way to hard, hence why they both would sneak work home in order to finish what they couldn't in the office.

As he pulled his prize Jaguar into his designated parking place he noticed a tall, handsome man leaning against his car. "Just great." muttered Duo, "What is Daryl doing here tonight?" Turning his car off, he grabbed his laptop bag from the passenger seat and got out of the car. Stretching his frame to its full height of six-four he walked over towards the elevator.

"Duo, where have you been? We were supposed to be going out tonight and you are already a half hour late." said the man.

Duo looked down at his watch and noticed that it was already 7:30. He had actually come home early this evening, thanks to the dragon. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could convince Daryl to forget about going out and instead order in. Then who knows what may happen afterwards. If he gave Daryl a couple hours of his time, they could both be happy and then he could finish working on the Lakewood account before heading to bed.

"Look I just got back in from California. How about we go upstairs and order some pizza for dinner?" Duo asked.

"What!" Daryl screeched. "You aren't taking me out? We have reservations. You promised we would go out."

'Well damn.' thought Duo, 'I guess the pizza and sex is out for tonight.' Using his key to open the elevator, Duo stepped inside and pushed the button for his floor. Daryl followed him in, with his arms crossed over his chest. Yep, no sex tonight.

"This has got to stop Duo. This is the third time that you have cancelled on me this month."

Duo watched the numbers as they rose to his floor. He wished for the elevator to hurry along so that he could get into his home, drop the heavy lap top bag and just try to relax for the rest of the night. He tuned out the rest of Daryl's rant, hoping that if he did the man would give it a rest. When the doors slid open on his floor he walked down the hallway and opened his door. He noticed that Daryl was no longer beside him and he turned to see the man still standing in the elevator.

"Are you coming in or are you staying in the elevator?" he asked Daryl.

Walking inside of his apartment he dropped his laptop bag onto the couch and took off his coat and suit jacket. Walking into the kitchen he grabbed the phone and turned towards Daryl. "So do you want pizza or Chinese? The choice is yours."

"You were serious? You have no intention of taking me out tonight?" Daryl asked him.

"Look Daryl, as I was trying to tell you. My plane from California came in first thing this morning, I went straight to the office and have not had a chance to even think straight much less remember that I was supposed to take you out to dinner. Now I promise that I will make it up to you but I am not going out with anyone tonight."

"You know Duo, I think that maybe this relationship is over. When everyone told me that you were a cold hearted bastard I thought that they were wrong. The sex with you is mind blowing, when you are there with me and not thinking about work, but the rest is just shit. Your whole life revolves around work and you have nothing left for anyone else. Even your family gets left behind when it come to your work."

Just as Duo was about to tell Daryl that his family life was none of his business there was a knock on his door. Frowning he walked towards the door. He knew that he wasn't expecting anyone else this evening. Looking through the keyhole he noticed a black cowboy hat pulled low to cover the person's eyes. It was the slight frame and strong jaw that gave the identity of the person away. 'What is Heero doing here?' he thought to himself.

Opening the door, Duo got a good look at the young man standing in front of him. Heero was still shorter than himself by about six inches but it was the leanness of his body that gave Duo some concern. While Heero had always been a slim man, he could tell by the bagginess of his coat that he was even smaller than before. When Heero lifted his head Duo had to bite back a gasp. Instead of skin a golden color it was now more ashen grey, there were deep bags under his eyes that even the glasses that he wore could not hide.

"Duo." Heero whispered.

Pulling Heero into his arms Duo asked, "Heero, what wrong? Tell me baby." Inwardly Duo cringed. What was he thinking calling Heero baby? Obviously it what was what Heero needed because suddenly thin arms were wrapped around his waist and he could feel him grab for the long chestnut braid down his back. He felt a sad smile tug at his mouth, Heero had always been fascinated with the long braid that he had worn since he was a child. Being seven years older than Heero, he had become more of a big brother and protector of the young child. Whenever Heero had been hurt, angry or upset he had always come running to Duo and would grab onto his braid like a life line.

"I'm sorry." Heero whispered.

Pulling back from the hug Duo looked at him and asked, "What's wrong? Is it granddad?" He mentally berated himself. He had meant to go home to visit his grandfather but it seemed that work always kept him busy.

"No! I mean, he is still here. It is not looking very good and the doctor has said that it won't be much longer but I came here for another reason." Heero said quietly.

Pulling Heero into the apartment, Duo closed the door and said, "Let me take your coat and then you can tell me what's wrong."

Heero started pulling off his coat until he noticed the man standing in the living room. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that you had company. I will come back later."

Daryl looked back and forth between Duo and the young man standing next to him. Making his decision, he started towards the door. "Not a problem. I was just leaving." Looking at Duo once more he said, "If you change your mind and decide what it is that you want call me." Then Daryl walked out the door, closing it quietly behind him.

Duo stood there for a moment, not quite sure what to do next. He felt his stomach start to grumble and realized that he still had the phone in his hand. Hitting the speed dial to the local pizza place he turned and looked at Heero. "Do you still like extra meat and double cheese on your pizza?"

Heero felt his stomach clench at the thought of any food hitting it. "I am really not hungry." he said.

"You look like you could stand to gain a few pounds. I will order it and you will eat it." Duo looked at how thin he really was now that Heero's coat was off and felt anger well up in him. He was going to kick his father's ass when he saw him for allowing Heero to work so hard. Placing the order for the pizza he then returned and sat down on the couch to wait.

"So what is wrong Heero?" Duo asked.

Taking a deep breath Heero said, "You know that since your granddad has been sick I have taken over as acting manager."

"Yes, and the last time that I talked to dad, he said that you were doing a great job."

"Well I have been trying. You know that your granddad's insurance has not been able to pay for all of his treatments so many of the hospital bills have been paid out of pocket. With the cost of the bills, taxes on the ranch and the price of gas going up we are in the red. There is just no more money left. We have had to lay off the last two workers that we had and now everyone is pulling double duty. I was hoping that I could find some money somewhere, maybe a secret account that we didn't know about. But every time I asked Howard about it he would tell me that there wasn't any. I did some looking in the computer just hoping to find anything and that was when I found his will."

"Granddad's will?" asked Duo.

"Yeah, I didn't mean to look at it but I didn't know what it was until I opened it." Heero said.

"What did you find?"

"I put the file on memory stick because it would be easier for you to read it than for me to explain. From what I read of it, you, Zechs and Quatre are the ones who it pertains to." Heero explained.

Just then the door bell rang and Duo got up to pay for the pizza. Placing a slice on two plates he walked back into the living room with them along with two sodas. Once he was settled on the couch he booted up his laptop and placed the usb stick into his computer. While he ate his dinner he proceeded to read the contents of the will.

Looking up at Heero he said, "What was granddad thinking when he wrote this? Your right, it seems that the conditions pertain to just dad, Quatre and I. He wrote that the first one to be married will inherit the ranch. It can even be a civil union, as long as it is legal anywhere in the United States. That means that I could marry anyone as long as it is legal, which we know it is in places like Vermont." Frowning at the fact that Heero had not taken a bite of his pizza he said, "Eat your pizza. You have to be hungry."

"I told you that I wasn't hungry. Your father made a big breakfast for me before I left."

"Do they know that you are here?"

"Yeah, I told them that I had to discuss something with you and that I would be back tonight."

"Yeah, right. There is no way that you are going to go back tonight. So now eat."

Heero looked at the pizza on his plate and felt his stomach start to clench. Just then his head once again started pounding and he saw little silver spots dance in front of his eyes. Closing his eyes, he started moaning at the pain. Suddenly, he bolted up from the couch.

"Bathroom." he muttered.

"What?" asked Duo.

"Bathroom, now!" Heero yelled.

Duo jumped up from the couch and pulled Heero down the hallway to the bathroom. Opening the door he stood back as Heero pushed his way in towards the toilet. Dropping to his knees he proceeded to let loose everything that was in his stomach, which wasn't much as he had lied about eating breakfast. Once he was done heaving he felt a cold washcloth pressed into his hand. Using it to wipe down his face, he felt Duo pull his hair back.

"Sorry." Heero muttered. "I don't know what is wrong with me. There should not be anything in there for me to lose."

"It's ok." Duo said, and then he looked down into the toilet and saw the blood. "Baby, I don't know what is wrong but you are going to the hospital. Now!"

TBC

*Authors note- I hope that everyone likes this first chapter. As I said in the disclaimer, this is based on a wonderful story by J L Langley. I have taken the basic premise but as the story goes on it will be all my own ideas. There will be a lot more characters that she did not have in the original.

Koiru- Puppy- found on wikitionary.

Oji- Uncle- found on wikitionary.


	2. Chapter 2

Marriage Most Convenient

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. I wish I could because they are all too cute for words. This story is based off the wonderful novella by J L Langley called His Convenient Husband. Every time I have read this story all I could picture is the G-Boys, so this is my take on this story.

Pairings: 1x2, 3x4, 6x5

Warnings: AU, swearing, lemon

By: bekkalynn

Chapter 2

Heero slowly brought himself awake when he felt pressure on his left arm. He really didn't want to wake up as he found himself feeling pain free for the first time. Well pain free except for the annoying pressure that kept happening to his left arm. When he felt said pressure for the third time he started to fell annoyed. He wanted to sleep. As he slowly opened his eyes he saw a white ceiling over his head. Frowning he wondered where he was as he knew his room was not white. Turning his head, he saw a cuff on his arm, looking higher he saw a monitor hooked to said cuff. That's right he was in the hospital. Duo had brought him in to the emergency room when he had seen blood in the toilet. Damn, he couldn't afford a hospital bill, he needed to get out of there. Carefully, he slid his right leg to the side of the bed and using his right hand to help pull himself up, he got as far as halfway before he heard a voice to his right.

"Yeah granddad, I will see you when I come home. I should be there in a couple of days. I love you." There was silence after that and Heero used the time to try and pull himself up so that he could leave the hospital bed. He felt a hand land on his shoulder and slowly push him back down towards the bed.

"Whoa baby. Where do you think you are going?" Heero looked up and found himself mesmerized by the clear violet color of Duo's eyes. Heero felt his back hit the mattress. "If you think that you are leaving this bed you have another thing coming. The doctor says that you have a bleeding ulcer that needs to be watched for the next twelve hours. He was also worried about the migraine that you had so you are stuck here."

"I can't afford a stay in the hospital. I need to get back home." Heero growled. "And where the hell is my glasses, I can't see a damn thing!"

Duo smirked as he pulled said glasses from his shirt pocket and placed them gently on Heero's face. "Don't worry about the hospital bill. I will take care of it. You just concentrate on getting better."

"I can pay for my own bills, thank you very much." Heero said.

"Look, let's not argue over this now, ok? There are other things that we need to discuss."

"Like what?" Heero asked.

"While they were doing the gastroscopy on you, I called my lawyer and asked her to look over the copy of the will you gave me." Duo paused for a moment and then said, "The short of it is from the quick look that she gave it, given the way that it was written it can be contested by Anne."

"So what do you plan to do?" asked Heero.

Duo ran his hand through his bangs. Heero watched, wishing it was his hand that was playing with that soft, silky hair. '_Wait, what am I thinking? I do not want to be playing with Duo's hair!' _ Heero swore he heard a little voice in the back of head calling him a liar.

"I talked to dad a few minutes ago and I know that neither he or Quatre are seeing anyone at this time so I hardly doubt that they will be getting married anytime soon. As I can see it that is the only way in which to keep control of the ranch after granddad…." Duo looked down for a moment trying to keep the tears from forming in his eyes. Taking a deep breath he looked up at Heero again and said, "I think I have found a way to both save the ranch and to keep Anne of our backs at the same time."

Heero looked at Duo with a wary look in his eyes. "What are you planning on doing?" he asked.

At the mischievous twinkle in Duo's eyes, Heero found himself feeling suddenly nervous. Years of knowing Duo showed that once he got that glint in his eyes it would not bode well for Heero. "It is simple really. You and I are going to get married."

Duo watched as the words sank into Heero's brain, he knew that in about three seconds the fireworks would start. He was not disappointed.

"Are you out of your COTTON PICKEN MIND! I AM NOT GOING TO MARRY YOU! NO WAY, NO HOW!" Heero yelled.

"Now Heero…."

Heero pointed at Duo and said, "Don't you, now Heero, me! We are not getting married and that is final." Yep, there was that glint again in Duo's eyes. It was not going to bode well for him, he could just feel it.

Two days, it had been two days since Heero had spoken to him other than when he had spoken his vows through clenched teeth. It had been surprisingly easy to get Heero to agree to the marriage. All he had to do was to play on his love for the ranch and he knew that Heero would give in. He glanced down at the marriage license that sat on the dash of his Jaguar. It was now legal, Heero belonged to him, at least for now. It was the perfect solution. The ranch would stay in the family and the will theoretically could not be contested. It would also keep the little shit sitting next to him from working himself to death. Duo had been shocked when the doctor's had told him about the ulcer. No way should a man of twenty three be suffering from ulcers and migraines.

As Duo exited the highway, he stole a glace over at Heero. Yep, still mad. Taking a deep breath he asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine"

Duo felt his teeth start to grind together and he suppressed the urge to reach over and shake the hell out of Heero. He never remembered Heero being quite so disagreeable and cranky. Once upon a time Heero used to be all smiles and hung on every word Duo said. Smiling to himself, he realized that he missed it. Well maybe the hanging on every word part was a bit much, he kinda liked Heero having an independent streak, but it was the smiles that he missed the most. Heero had the most beautiful smile.

'_No,' Duo thought to himself, 'No thinking about his smile. You are only here to make sure the ranch is safe and Heero is getting better and then you are going home. Where you belong.' _Somewhere, somehow he knew that the fates were laughing at his expense.

"No pain?" Duo asked.

Heero continued to lean back in the seat with his eyes closed. "No."

Gritting his teeth again, Duo asked, "So what would it take to make the ranch more profitable?"

"Doesn't matter."

"God damn it Heero!" Taking a deep breath, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately, he tried again. "It does matter. I didn't marry you to save the ranch from Anne if it is only going to keep losing money. I want the ranch to make a profit so that you, dad, Quatre and Treize will have a home and an income. Since you are the manager of the place I figure you have some ideas on how to make that happen."

"What do you mean? You plan on fixing things and then just going about on your merry way? Yeah, that sounds about right. Running away again." Heero said with a sarcastic tone.

"Heero, I did not run away. Y'all knew where I was and how to contact me." He wasn't about to mention that he wanted Heero to have a chance to grow up and that if he had stayed Heero would have been his years ago. "I also have a life in Denver. I cannot just abandon my career there. Trowa and I have worked very hard to make it this far and I can't just walk away. Now since we know that it is only a matter of time before granddad…well when we lose him, I want to make sure all is well. I will have the ranch put in my name so that I can pay the inheritance tax and then I will lend the ranch some money to get it back on its feet."

"Look, we both know why you left ok? We both know that night of my eighteen birthday was a mistake, and trust me it is not one that I will let happen again. I am not naïve anymore."

Duo swore that he was going to need dental work by the time he went back to Denver from the amount of time he spent gritting his teeth. He knew the night that Heero was talking about, it was one that would forever be etched in his memory. He had come home for a visit for Heero's birthday and after the small family party he went to his room only to find Heero in there waiting for him. Heero had looked so beautiful that night and he had been unable to resist. That night he had made love to Heero and it had been perfect, too perfect. The next day, he had left, knowing that if he had stayed he would have made love to him again.

"I will say it again Heero, I want to make sure the ranch is making a profit. So if you would be so kind as to tell what I need to know we can get this done."

Heero was quiet for a moment. Then he turned to Duo and said, "We need to increase the herd size. We have not been able to afford to keep the same amount of cattle that we did years ago. We also want to start training bulls and cutting horses for the rodeo. Your father still has some contacts from when he rode the circuit and we thought it might be a good way to bring in some extra money."

"Have you checked into what it would cost to start this venture? Where would you get the bulls and the horses? How reliable are dad's contacts?"

"I have started to check into the cost, but with all that has been going on I have not been able to get everything worked out. I do have some of the plans saved on my computer, I can show you when we get there."

"That's sounds good. We can look at it in a couple of days." There was no way he was going to let Heero start working as soon as he got home. Nope, no way. Slowing the car he turned into the long drive that would take them to the house. He gazed at the wrought iron sign over the drive, Indian Hill Ranch, and felt a sense of peace settle over him. "We're here."

Looking over at Heero he saw the slight smile that flitted across the young man's face. He felt his heart skip a beat at the sight. This was why he had come up with this plan. To take some of the pressure off of Heero and to bring back that smile.

"Do you really think this is going to work?" Heero asked. "I mean this plan has the potential to blow up in our face. Wyoming does not legally acknowledge same sex marriage."

"According to my lawyer it does not have to be legal in Wyoming but just be legal just somewhere in the United States. Since it is legal in a few states it will work to keep Anne off of our backs."

"What about any decisions that need to be made about the ranch? If it is in your name, are you going to be making all of the decisions?"

"Trust me Heero, I will not make any decisions about the ranch without consulting with you first. I know that you are the manager of the ranch so it would be wise for us to work together." As long as they did not cause Heero more stress.

"Promise."

"Yes. I promise." Heero seemed to be satisfied with that answer because he watched as the tension slowly leaked out of the stiff shoulders of the man beside him. If he had known that all it would take was a promise like this he would have made it earlier. Duo's lawyer had told him that the will would most likely be contested when the time came but he wanted to try to take this route first. He knew from Heero's own experience with his own family, that he would not like to drag this drama into the court system. So it was why they were now in this marriage of convenience. He held no dreams of this marriage being a happily ever after. If he did stay, he knew that he would be tempted to make this marriage real, then when he left…well he couldn't do that to Heero.

"What the hell?" Heero exclaimed.

Duo looked straight ahead to see what had Heero so angry. It was then that he spotted the Lincoln sitting in front of the house with the license plate that read Lady Anne. Well this would be a good test as to whether or not he would have a fight on his hands over the land.

"So what is the bitch from hell doing here?" Duo asked. He hadn't like Anne since she had left years ago, taking with her the person that broke his father's heart. While his father had been on the rodeo circuit he had kept his bi sexuality to himself. Rodeo riders were not known to be friendly to those who liked members of their own sex. In the early years, when his father had been trying to come to terms over it, he had slept with the two women that would produce his brother and himself. However it had been Travis that he had fallen head over heels for, Travis who had stated that he could not live his life on a ranch and had left with Anne at the first chance he could. Nope, no love lost between him and his aunt.

"Howard had been asking for her but I honestly did not think she would show up." Heero said.

"Think she brought him with her?"

"I don't know but I have to check on dad." Heero growled.

Duo grabbed ahold of Heero's arm before he could open the door. "Whoa, hold on. You don't have your seat belt off." Duo wondered if Heero even realized that he had called Zechs dad. Probably not given the temper he was in. "Heero you need to calm down. Remember, we have an ace in the hole. We are married so we have won the first round. Can anyone access your computer?"

"The only one who can is Quatre, but I don't see him giving her the password."

"Good. Then we let Anne spend some time with granddad and then send her on her way. Trust me, she is not going to want to stay here." He looked at Heero and noticed that he still had dark circles under his eyes. There was no way he was going to allow that woman to stress Heero out. No way at all. "Come here baby."

Heero turned and glared at Duo. "What did you call me?"

Duo couldn't help but think of how cute Heero looked when he glared. He suddenly got the insane urge to kiss that glare off of his face. He knew that he shouldn't. It was a complication that he didn't need. Screw that, he wanted and he was going to get what he wanted. He leaned forward and grabbing Heero's chin with his left hand, pulled him closer. Slanting his mouth over Heero's he took the kiss that deep down he knew he had wanted since he first saw him standing in his apartment doorway.

A slight whimper left Heero's mouth before he started kissing Duo back. Just the taste of Duo was enough to reduce him to jelly. He grabbed the front of Duo's shirt with one hand while the other slowly inched its way up to wrap around Duo's neck. He never wanted the kiss to end but he knew that he needed to pull back. It would not be good to allow Duo to kiss him. Duo was going back to Denver.

Pulling away he growled, "What the hell doing you think you're….?"

"Shhh…." Duo tilted his head towards the front of the house. He hoped that Heero would think that the kiss was for his family's benefit.

The passenger door opened and Treize poked his head inside. "Well look here, the prodigal son has returned."

The driver side door opened next and Duo saw his brother standing there with a smile on his face. "Yeah, and he brought Duo home with him. Hey big brother."

"I think Treize was talking about your brother." came a dry reply.

Duo unbuckled his seat belt and hurried out of the car. Immediately he was caught up in a big hug by his father. He hugged his father back with just as much strength. It was so good to be home.

"Hi dad."

"It's good to have you home Duo. Did you take care of our boy?"

Duo turned to look at his brother and Treize fussing over Heero and nearly laughed. Heero was trying so hard to get away but neither would let him. Turning back to his father he said, "I tried. You know how stubborn he can be."

"Trust me, we know how stubborn the brat can be." laughed Quatre, ducking a swat aimed at his head by Heero. Running away from Heero he ran around the car to give Duo his own huge hug. "It's about time you came home bro."

"Stop calling me brat." Heero growled. "Asshole."

Quatre turned to flip Heero the middle finger saying, "You called." He turned back to look at Duo with a serious face. "You see who also showed up don't ya."

"Yeah, can we kick her off the ranch yet?" Duo asked.

"We would love to but granddad has wanted to see her. I am surprised that she even came."

Duo looked at the porch and saw that Anne was standing there in what he knew was an expensive suit. She looked totally out of place and Duo couldn't help but smile over the discomfort that was evident on her face. Lifting her chin in the haughty way that only she could do, she walked down the steps of the porch towards the little group.

Stopping in front of Duo she smiled but it never seemed to reach her eyes. "Duo, my how you have grown. Did you finally decide to come home or did the …" she turned and looked at Heero disdainfully "little orphan freeloader drag you back?"

"And by orphan freeloader I assume you mean my husband." Duo smiled as coldly as Anne had when he added, "Go ahead call him a freeloader again. I dare you. I have never hit a woman in my life but I can always make an exception."

TBC

*Author's note* I wish to thank all of the people that have reviewed this story and for all of those that have put this story on their alert list. It always makes me happy to have people enjoy what I have wrote. Big Hugs!

However, for the person who wrote the review about the description I have of Treize I wish to say that, while I could not really remember what the character looked like I went on the official Gundam Wing website by Bandai and under the description of Treize it states that he has platinum blond hair and icy blue eyes. So please check the site out. Also, this is a story. A part of a person's imagination. There is a good reason why I wrote the character the way I did.


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